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Obama’s many, many speeches on gun violence

President Barack Obama walks out before speaking in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, in Washington. Before speaking about the economy Obama commented on the Washington Navy Yard shooting. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Barack Obama has had to address gun violence in America from the first year he’s been in office. He’s done it 15 times. What follows are excerpts from speeches he has made in each tragic instance.

While meeting constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 17 others were shot when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire. Six of the victims died, including John M. Roll, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Obama: “What Americans do at times of tragedy is to come together and support each other.”

Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A known white supremacist, Page killed himself following the shooting.

Obama: “I think all of us recognize that these kinds of terrible, tragic events are happening with too much regularity for us not to do some soul-searching and to examine additional ways that we can reduce violence.”

Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six adults, including the school’s principal, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before killing himself. Before 2016, it was the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, behind Virginia Tech.

Obama: “This evening Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight. And they need all of us right now.”

Inside the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Washington Navy Yard, Aaron Alexis killed 12 and wounded another eight people.

Obama: “It’s a shooting that targeted our military and civilian personnel. These are men and women who were going to work, doing their job, protecting all of us. They’re patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn’t have expected here at home.”

Iraq veteran Spc. Ivan Lopez shot and killed three people at several locations on the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Sixteen other people were injured as well.

Obama: “Any shooting is troubling. Obviously, this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago. We know these families. We know their incredible service to our country and the sacrifices that they make.”

Obama: “Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy. There is something particularly heartbreaking about the death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace, in a place of worship.”

Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations, killing five people. He first did a drive-by shooting at a recruiting center, then went to a U.S. Navy Reserve center, where he was killed by police. Four Marines died there, and a Navy sailor died from his injuries two days later.

Obama: “My main message right now is obviously the deepest sympathies of the American people to the four Marines that have been killed. It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion.”

Umpqua Community College student Chris Harper-Mercer killed nine people and injured another nine at the small Oregon school.

Obama: “But as I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America, next week or a couple of months from now.”

Married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at an office party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 and wounding 21 others.

Obama: “We see the prevalence of these kinds of mass shootings in this country, and I think so many Americans sometimes feel as if there’s nothing we can do about it. We are fortunate to have an extraordinary combination of law enforcement and intelligence and military that work every single day to keep us safe. But we can’t just leave it to our professionals to deal with the problem of these kinds of horrible killings. We all have a part to play.”

Obama: “I’m not on the ballot again. I’m not looking to score some points. I think we can disagree without impugning other people’s motives or without being disagreeable. We don’t need to be talking past one another. But we do have to feel a sense of urgency about it. In Dr. King’s words, we need to feel the ‘fierce urgency of now.’ Because people are dying. And the constant excuses for inaction no longer do, no longer suffice.”

Obama: “For so many people here who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, the Pulse Nightclub has always been a safe haven, a place to sing and dance, and most importantly, to be who you truly are – including for so many people whose families are originally from Puerto Rico. Sunday morning, that sanctuary was violated in the worst way imaginable. So whatever the motivations of the killer, whatever influences led him down the path of violence and terror, whatever propaganda he was consuming from ISIL and al Qaeda, this was an act of terrorism but it was also an act of hate.”

Afghanistan veteran Micah Xavier Johnson opened fire on police officers during a protest march in downtown Dallas, killing five officers and injuring another seven.

Obama: “Scripture tells us that in our sufferings, there is glory, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Sometimes the truths of these words are hard to see. Right now, those words test us because the people of Dallas, people across the country are suffering.”

Martenzie is a senior researcher for The Undefeated. His favorite cinematic moment is when Django said "Y'all want to see somethin?"